The St. Tammany Parish school system introduced a proposed $359.4 million budget for 2011-12 to the School Board on Thursday night at a sparsely attended public hearing at the C.J. Schoen Administrative Complex in Covington.

Approval could come as soon as Sept. 1 when the board meets in committee.

The budget represents an increase of 1.5 percent over last school year's final tally of $354.2 million. Much of the increases stem from rising salaries, retirement benefits and health insurance costs.

With an expected enrollment of about 37,500, the school system would be spending an average of $11,212 per student under the spending plan, factoring in spending for special education programs. That's slightly more than the state average and about $400 more than the national average for 2009-10, the last year data was available, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. It's nearly $7,000 less per student than New York spent three years ago, which is the highest figure in the country.

Using a 12-minute power-point presentation, Assistant Superintendent of of Curriculum and Instruction Cheryl Arabie went over each piece of the budget and the changes made from the 2010-11 school year.

Seventy-two percent of the projected expenditures go toward salaries and teacher retirement costs. The remaining 28 percent -- or $101.3 million -- is spent on operational costs and insurance.

Of the revenues, $201.5 million (56.3 percent) comes from state sources, $155.8 million (43.6 percent) comes from local revenue and $531,500 (0.1 percent) is received from federal sources. Revenues are very similar to last year, and administrators say figuring out how to manage a budget is the toughest part of their job as costs and demands on the system continue to rise.

Superintendent Trey Folse said unfunded mandates handed down by the state also are forcing the school system to make cuts across the board. In fact, $67.2 million, or 18.7 percent, of the district's expenditures come from unfunded mandates. He, along with most of the board members, say they have tried to get their point across to state legislators and Gov. Bobby Jindal, but their cries have fallen upon deaf ears.

"Maybe it will matter when (state legislators) start to hear from teachers and national board certified people who didn't get their stipend this year. ... They're going to have to step up and make their voices heard," Folse said. "These things are impacting everyone, all the way to the child sitting in the classroom."

Of the handful of interested citizens at the hearing, two came to the podium to ask specific questions.

Tracy Allen of Covington said he was concerned with the increasing amount the school system must shell out to retirees which, including insurance benefits, will cost a little more than $100 million this year.

"The course you're on is not a sustainable trajectory," he said. "I don't have any answers, but I just think this is something we need to make sure you all are trying to communicate to the community. We need to figure out a way to impart this information on our legislators, because this is going to lead to massive staff reductions if we can't find a solution."

Clark Rowley of Slidell wanted to stress the importance of extra-curricular activites, and he worries that it may be tough to persuade teachers to volunteer to lead such programs without any incentives.

"These instructional activities are as important as athletics, especially for kids who are intellectually competing," he said. "They highlight their school experience."

As was the case last year, Arabie said that there will be at least three more opportunities to amend the budget later in the school year, assuming it is accepted next month.